Patricia Moore-King ("Moore-King") challenges the application of regulations enacted by the County of Chesterfield, Virginia (the "County") affecting fortune tellers on various grounds. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the County.

I.

A.

The parties do not dispute the relevant facts. The Chesterfield County

Bethel World Outreach Ministries brought this action asserting that Montgomery County’s zoning regulations, which prevented Bethel from constructing a church, violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA"), the United States Constitution, and the Maryland Declaration of Rights. The district court granted summary judgment to the County on all claims. For the rea

The defendants have filed interlocutory appeals from an order of the district court granting a preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiff, an association of individual members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and beneficiaries of a charitable religious trust (“FLDS Association”). After granting the defendants’ motion for an emergency stay pendi

Until the eve of oral argument, the City of Holly Springs, Mississippi, had on its books a zoning ordinance that explicitly singled out “churches” for unfavorable treatment, albeit not for the outright banning of their presence from particular locations. The night before we heard argument, Holly Springs amended its ordinance, this time to ban “[c]hurches, temples, synagogues, mos

20 This appeal concerns a longstanding land-use dispute between
21 plaintiff-appellee Fortress Bible Church (“the Church”) and
22 defendant-appellant Town of Greenburgh, New York (“the Town”)
23 over the Church’s plan to build a worship facility and school on
24 land that it owned within the Town. After a series of
25 contentious administrative pr

Covenant Christian Ministries, Inc. (“Covenant”) and its pastor, Frederick T. Anderson, brought an action against the City of Marietta, Georgia, challenging the validity of its zoning ordinance. As pertinent to this appeal, Covenant and Anderson each allege multiple claims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc. The

We address the “equal terms” provision of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).1

I. Facts

Centro Familiar Cristiano Buenas Nuevas, founded in 1998, is a Christian congregation of around 250 members, associated with the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention. The church sued for a declaratory judgment, injunction, and damages, when the City of Yum

This case presents the question whether the States, by accepting federal funds, consent to waive their sovereign immunity to suits for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 114 Stat. 803, 42 U. S. C. §2000cc et seq. We hold that they do not. Sovereign immunity therefore bars this suit for damages against the State of Texas.

I

Recognizing the significance of religious freedom in all aspects of life, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA” or “the Act”) to “protect[ ] institutionalized persons who are unable freely to attend to their religious needs and are therefore dependent on the government’s permission and accommodation for exerc

The Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County (“the County”), Defendant-Appellant, appeals the district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law and entry of a permanent injunction following a jury verdict for Rocky Mountain Christian Church (“RMCC”) on three counts of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.

We have consolidated for decision two cases presenting the recurring issue of the rights of religious organizations to avoid having to comply with local land-use regulations. Analysis requires threading our way through a maze of statutory and constitutional provisions and we begin there, which is to say with the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §�

The Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA), Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 110, prevents the state and local Texas governments from substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion unless the government can demonstrate that doing so furthers a compelling governmental interest in the least restrictive manner. In this case, we must decide if the city of Euless, Texas

Tent City 4 is a movable encampment of

homeless people in the Puget Sound area sponsored by nonprofit Seattle

Housing and Resource Effort/Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement

Project (Share/Wheel). The encampment houses approximately 60-100

people and moves from place to place every 90 days. It relies on property

owners to volunteer sites and in 2006 a

The Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA) provides that “a government agency may not substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion [unless it] demonstrates that the application of the burden to the person . . . is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest [and] is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.”1 TRFRA does not immunize

In docket number 270031, plaintiff Great Lakes Society (GLS) appeals by leave granted the trial court’s opinion and order affirming defendant Georgetown Charter Township Zoning Board of Appeals’ (ZBA) denial of GLS’s request for a special use permit and for a variance. In docket numbers 280574 and 280577, defendants appeal by leave granted the trial court’s opinion and

Carl Eric Olsen appeals the district court’s1 order dismissing his complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief from the federal and Iowa Controlled Substances Acts (CSAs) for his sacramental use of marijuana. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, this court affirms.

I.

Olsen asserts that he adheres to the teachings of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church (EZCC), which

The plaintiffs-appellants are the owners and the agent of a building in Chicago that for more than four decades has displayed an advertising sign without a permit. Current zoning provisions prohibit the sign given its size and proximity to a residential district, but the plaintiffs contend that because the sign was lawful when first erected, they have a right to continue displaying the sign

This appeal by the named plaintiff, Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut, Inc. (society), and the plaintiff Pong Me, the society's president, arises from the decision of the defendant planning and zoning commission of the town of Newtown (commission) denying the society's application for a special exception to build a Buddhist temple on its property located in the town of Newtown (town

This appeal requires us to clarify the nature of the constitutional and statutory protections enjoyed by religious assemblies against governmental interference in the form of land-use regulations. The plaintiff/appellants are the Lighthouse Institute for Evangelism, which describes itself as "a Christian church that seeks to minister to the poor and disadvantaged in downtown Long Branch,

Mention Chicago to almost any person who has been on an airplane, and that person will immediately think of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. It is one of the busiest airports in the world: in 2005, more than 76.5 million passengers passed through its facilities, along with 1.7 million tons of freight. See http://www.flychicago.com/events/KidsPage2006/OHareH istory.shtm (last visit

Young Israel of Bal Harbour ("Young Israel") and Midrash Sephardi ("Midrash"), two synagogues serving the Surfside-Bal Harbour-Bay Harbor Islands area of Miami-Dade County, Florida, appeal the district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of the Town of Surfside ("Surfside") on the synagogues' claims challenging the Surfside Zoning Ordinance ("SZO") under the Religious Land Use and

Plaintiff-appellant Tyrone R. Hammons is incarcerated at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, Oklahoma. Defendants-appellees James L. Saffle, et al., implemented prison policies in May 1999 and June 2002, prohibiting in-cell possession and use of oils that Hammons uses for his five daily Muslim prayers. Hammons, proceeding pro se, filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 seeking a de

City of Ellisville, Terrance B. Keran, City Engineer, and the Board of Adjustment (collectively "City") appeal from a judgment in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County permanently enjoining the City of Ellisville from interfering with the erection of a monument sign by St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellisville ("Church"). City asserts that the trial court's judgment was improper and tha

Appellant Earl Wayne Wyatt, a Rastafarian inmate, filed this § 1983 action challenging the California Department of Corrections’ hair length regulations as a violation of his constitutional and statutory rights to free exercise of religion and equal protection of the laws. This appeal concerns three procedural issues rather than the merits of Wyatt’s claims.

In addressing

Defendants-Appellants the City of New York, Bernard Kerik and Rudolph Giuliani (collectively "the City") appeal from an opinion and order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Lawrence M. McKenna, Judge) entering a preliminary injunction in favor of Plaintiffs-Appellees Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church ("Presbyterian" or "the Church") and ten homeless persons.